Valentine Derrey of France fired a second successive round of 68 to take a one stroke lead halfway through the Helsingborg Open.

The 26-year-old from Paris had eight birdies and four bogeys in a sunny but breezy second round at Vasatorp Golf Club.

At eight-under in total, she finished the day with a narrow lead over first-round leader I.K. Kim of South Korea and South African LET order of merit leader Lee-Anne Pace.

LET rookie Camilla Lennarth was the best of the Swedish players in sole fourth place on six-under-par after a 70, closely followed by compatriots Caroline Hedwall and Pernilla Lindberg in a share of fifth.

The leading Australian in the field is Rebecca Artis, firing a second round score of one-under, 71, to be tied seventh at four-under-par total.

The next Australian is Stephanie Na, who had a second round score of even par 72 to be tied 12th in windy, tough conditions.

Off the other Australians in the field, Sarah Kemp is tied 24th whilst Nikki Garett had a disappointing second round score of 6 over, 78 to be tied 39th.

The others that made the cut are Whitney Hillier and Nikki Campbell, both tied 44th.

The cut was made at four-over-par and unfortunately Stacey Keating (71) and Alison Whitaker (73) both missed by one. New Zealand’s Cathryn Bristow will also have the week-end off after finishing at seven-over, while Queensland’s Bree Arthur was well back at 10-over.